What I know about music.

I used to play piano as a kid, never learning how to actually read music, I would memorize how the songs sounded and then plunk away at them at home in between lessons so I could play them from memory while appearing to read the notes on the paper. I still haven't learned how to read music.

I have a guitar, it sits either in it's case (when I'm cleaning) or out on it's stand (when I feel like it's "time to learn how to play the guitar"). I still haven't learned how to play.

I love music, it touches me more than any other art form I know of. I like photography but often I am not moved by another photographer's work, I simply like to take photos. Movies, eh, I can find them entertaining, perhaps shed a tear now and then. But I can remember exactly what song what playing and where I was when I found out the best friend of my unknowing highschool crush died..."I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston, played over and over as I sat crying in my room, thinking that he must be hurting so much right then. It still gives me pangs. When the song comes on that reminds me of when my Great Grandma died, I smile because I know she's looking down on me with her husband making sure I don't run out of gas before I get to the gas station. Certain George Winston songs remind me of Christmas at my house, and I can almost smell the cinnamon water my mom boils to make the house smell good during the holidays.

Music touches my heart and it brings me to another place in time. It is hard for me to move away from songs that are tied to a strong memory. With any sense-memory, they put me right back where I was, what I was feeling, good or bad. Some songs I wish I could listen to without having that effect but it will never be.

For better or worse, music will inspire me and haunt me. I hope someday that I can compose something that someone will feel touched by...until then, I will keep taking in the inspirations that others put out on the airwaves. Music is sharing someone's emotion through time and space.